


Is This Where the Story Ends?

by AwakeAndAliveSpartan



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, This will be short, Time Travel AU, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-13 08:45:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12980409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwakeAndAliveSpartan/pseuds/AwakeAndAliveSpartan
Summary: A mistake via Fitz's time-travel device sends a part of the team a few years into the past, giving them a chance to make things right through one, major decision:Give Grant Ward a second chance.But how will that one decision change things for the years to come? For the better, or for the worst?





	1. Are We Just Beginning?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things aren't quite what they seem.

Blinding white light shone straight above Skye as she peeled her eyes open, groaning as she struggled to get up from what seemed to be the floor.

“Guys?”

Skye blinked, sitting up and turning to see both Fitz and Mack beside her, “Wait, what… What happened?” she asked, looking around to see that they were in some kind of storage closet. “Where are we? Did your machine work?”

Fitz shrugged as he struggled to stand up, “I-I guess.” he stammered, slightly tripping up over his words. Why did he feel different? He looked around, “But… But this isn’t where I-I…” he trailed off and shook his head. “I…”

“Uh, Turbo?” Mack asked, raising an eyebrow. “Are you okay?”

Fitz waived a hand, trying to steady himself, “I-I’m fine. My head’s just a little, uh, foggy. But this isn’t where I came from. I… I know that.”

“So where are we then?” Skye questioned, slowly going towards the door of the closet. She slowly opened it to reveal a long, brick-lined hallway. One that she knew like the back of her hand, “Uh, Fitz? When did you set that machine to?”

“Uh, why?”

“I think we’re back in the Playground.”

“The Playground? Didn’t that robot version of May destroy it with explosives or something right before all that Framework shit went down?” Mack questioned, slipping into the hallway right behind the other two. “Fitz, I think you overshot our destination by a few months.”

“More like a few years.”

The two engineers blinked and turned to see that Skye was looking down at a phone with a huge frown. “Huh?” they both asked.

“It’s 2014.” she answered. “We’re 3 years into the past.”

“And where’s everyone else?” Mack questioned, looking around them again.

Fitz shook his head, “I-I thought I had the calculations right. Perhaps everyone got back to where I came from. But… But we got sent back a little further. U-Unfortunately.”

“That explains why Fitz is acting the way he is.” Mack stated. “That’s when he was having issues to due to his brain trauma.”

“T-That doesn’t make sense. Unless we’re, uh, somehow…” he trailed off, shaking his head again. “What’s the word?”

“We’re inhabiting our past selves?”

“Yeah! That!”

Skye frowned, “Then why were we sent back here?” she asked. “Can we get home?”

Fitz pulled a remote out of his pocket and began to fiddle with it, “I-It’s giving me an error message. But… But I think I can fix it with Mack’s help.” he stated. “I’m just glad that it still came through with us.”

“But I still don’t,”

“There you three are. What are you doing standing around?”

The three froze and turned to see May walking towards them, a darkened expression on her face. “We’re supposed to be preparing for the transport tomorrow, remember?” she asked. “Why are you standing around? And Fitz, Simmons was looking for you. She’s worried about something.”

Skye blinked, “What transport?”

“Uh, the one for Ward?” May frowned and crossed her arms. “How could you forget? The FBI transport team is coming first thing in the morning to pick him up for transport to that senator brother of his. Coulson wants us to do a few things before that happens.”

And with that, Skye’s stomach twisted up and completely froze over. Ward. This was the day before they sent him to his brother. The day before everything had gone to utter shit. Why had they been send back to today of all days? Something definitely didn’t sit right with her and she didn’t like it one bit.

“Oh yeah. Sorry. Everything’s been a little hectic lately.”

May frowned even more, “Well, Coulson wants to see you. It’s better that you go talk to him now before you zone out like that again.” she answered, turning around to leave once she was done.

Skye’s throat grew dry as she turned around to face Fitz and Mack, “What’s the chance that we get sent back to today?” she asked, her voice low so May wouldn’t overhear them. “How did we end up here?”

Fitz shrugged, “Time is a, uh, complicated thing.” he began. “It’s nonlinear sometimes. It’s not gonna work like how you want it to.”

Skye nodded slowly, but didn’t say anything in response. _“So we’re stuck here. Fitz’s device won’t work and I’m about to have to see Ward march to his death again. Why is this? Something doesn’t feel right here. Why did we come back to this day of all days? Does Fitz’s machine have a sick sense of humor?”_

“Look, you better go to Coulson for whatever the hell he wants.” Mack spoke up, taking a deep breath. “Fitz and I will work on getting this remote fixed so we can get back. Hopefully it won’t take too long. Okay?”

Taking a sharp breath to steady herself, Skye nodded again, “Yeah, that… That sounds good.” she answered. “Find me when you get that damn thing fixed.” She turned around and went down the hallway, heading her way towards Coulson’s office, starting to get lost in thought all over again.

 _“What is this weird feeling, though?”_ she thought. _“Something’s not right here at all. It can’t be coincidence that we get sent back to this day. I….”_ She stopped dead in her tracks, realization hitting her like an 18-wheeler. _“We’re supposed to stop it. We’re supposed to keep Coulson from sending Ward to his asshole brother. But why? What does that do to us?_

 _And why would we do that anyways? Ward is a madman. No… Garrett did this to him…”_ Her thoughts trailed off as she remembered the Framework version of Grant, the one that had been trained by Victoria Hand. The one that had been saved.

That was her sign. They were supposed to _save_ Grant here.

But what would that entail? How would that change things for them in the future if Grant never had a chance to side himself with Hydra again? Where would that put them when they got back to their time?

A part of Skye didn’t like this one bit. Why would they go back to help someone who had treated them so badly? But then again, they had done the very same thing to him. If not to a higher degree.

_You should’ve run faster._

Those words echoed in Skye’s head, causing her to shiver. _“No. I don’t want to remember that. If Framework Ward was anything to go by, we failed him here immensely. Would… Would Hive even be a thing if Ward never became director of Hydra?_

 _Is this what we’re supposed to do? Did some unseen force bring us back here for that very reason?”_ Skye shook her head as she resumed her trek towards Coulson’s office, _“But, seriously, what good would it do to change the past? How will it affect us? Is… Is this something worth doing in the very end? Why do I have this feeling that it needs to be done? I don’t like this at all, but something else tells me that I’ve got to stop this. Coulson can’t send Ward to his brother.”_

Skye took a deep breath as she headed straight into Coulson’s office. The Director nodded and stood from his desk as he acknowledged her presence, “Skye. I was looking for you. Well, I guess May told you that if you’re here.” he stated. “Now, I need to,”

“We can’t let this happen.” she blurted out, completely cutting Coulson off.

Coulson’s face paled in color and he drew his lips in a fine line, “Huh? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Ward. We can’t send him to Christian.”

“And why is that?” His voice grew tighter and harsher.

Skye gulped, knowing that she couldn’t say the truth. Coulson didn’t know that she was the actually the future version of herself.

“It’s just a feeling. We can’t let this transfer happen, Coulson.”

“So what are you telling me? That we keep Ward here for the rest of eternity. Because that’s not going to happen. I worked out a deal with Senator Ward.”

“Then… Then just trust me and give Ward a chance! I know that it sounds insane coming from me, but just listen!”

“W-What?!”

“I...” Skye shook her head once more, truly unsure of how to explain things to Coulson.

“Just trust me, Coulson. We can’t let this happen. Things will only get worse.

We’ve got to give Ward another chance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'll go ahead and say this will probably only be five or six chapters. It's not supposed to be a big fic, but I hope that it'll be good! It'll eventually turn Christmasy once it's back into the present, so that'll give you a hint of how things will be changed. Please leave a comment or kudos!


	2. Live the Lie, and We'll Pretend (We're Fighting for Something)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye has a stern talk with Coulson.

Coulson looked at her blankly, a look of disgust slowly seeping into his features. “What?” he almost hissed. “Why should we give that  _ psychopath _ another chance? Don’t you remember what he did to us?”

“Yeah, but I’m not asking you to completely forget about what happened!” Skye argued. “I’m…. I’m just saying that maybe this doesn’t have to happen and we could give him one, more chance. I’ve been thinking and I think a lot of what Ward did was because of Garrett. There’s no more Garrett around and Ward’s been wanting to help.”

“Help.” Coulson snorted and shook his head. “He’s just been saying that to make you believe that there’s still some innocent man underneath all of that blood. Remember, you can’t trust a single damn thing of what he says.”

Skye swallowed and slowly nodded, “Yeah, I know that. But I think, maybe, he’d be a good ally if we can show him the right way.”

“And what if we let him out and he kills us?”

“If he wanted us dead, he would’ve killed us a long time ago, Coulson. You know that.”

Coulson’s face darkened and he turned away, “The decision’s already been made, Skye. The transport team will pick him up first thing in the morning and will take him to Senator Ward. He’ll deal with things from there. There will be a proper trial and Ward will finally be dealt with.”

Skye grew sick to her stomach, “And don’t you realize that that’s the brother who tormented Ward for all of his childhood?” she asked quietly. “I don’t think Ward will get a ‘proper’ trial. Something’s wrong here.”

“And what? You just want him to rot in our basement until the end of time?” Coulson questioned angrily. “‘Cause that’s not going to happen. At all.” He swallowed and studied Skye for a bit before continuing, “And what’s will this sudden change in attitude towards him?” he asked. “What has he told you?”

“I…” Skye trailed off, unsure of what to say. She knew that Coulson couldn’t know that she was from the future. That wouldn’t end well. “Let’s just say that I’ve had a change of heart is all.”

“What? You have a weird dream or something?” Coulson’s voice was almost mocking. 

“Yeah, let’s go with that.”

The older man almost snorted in laughter, “And you’re going to believe what happened in a dream is a reason to ‘help’ Ward here?” he questioned. “I’m not buying it. Unless it was some kind of divine intervention or something, I’m not going to believe what happened in a dream. It’s a dream for a reason, Skye.”

“Coulson, you don’t understand.” she continued, deciding to go with this story. At least it was more believable than being the future version of herself. “I think it was a warning. If you send Ward to his brother, it’s only going to make things much, much worse for us.”

“Yeah, give me one way that things will get worse.”

“I think….” she scrunched up her face to make it seem like she was thinking. “I think Ward ended up leading a section of Hydra. Against you.”

Coulson’s face fell slightly, but he still didn’t seem completely fazed. He scoffed once more, “That doesn’t seem surprising. But that’s just another reason to deal with him now, right?”

“No! I’m saying that if we help him that none of that will happen!” Skye snapped, her anger towards Coulson starting to rise. How had he gotten like this? And the sad thing was, she had never noticed the change. 

“He just needs help, not a dark cell.” she continued. “Just listen to me here and you don’t have to listen to me ever again. And, hell, if I’m wrong, I’ll take all the blame for what happens. But, please, Coulson, we can’t let him go. Just… Just give him another chance.”

Coulson forced a small smile, “You know that I can’t do that, Skye. Ward’s done far too much damage for him to be let off that easily.”

“Like I said, don’t completely forget about what happened! Let him gain our trust back. He has to work for it, it’s not going to come easy for him.” Skye continued, glaring at the older man. “It’s not a freebie. He’s got to work for it. But I think this is much, much better than sending him to that asshole brother of his.”

“Again, I can’t do that, Skye. Think of all the damage it’ll cause if you’re wrong and he tries to do something against us.”

“Nothing will happen. Trust me. I’ve seen what will happen if we let him go.” Skye stated coldly, turning around so she didn’t have to look at Coulson anymore. “Just please, don’t send him.”

“I,”

“Whatever happened to you wanting to help and give second chances?” she asked coldly, completely cutting him off. “Romanoff, Amador?”

“They were completely different cases, Skye. They had been either brainwashed or controlled. You,”

“It’s not a completely different case, Coulson. It’s exactly the same. Garrett controlled Ward for years. I don’t think he’s ever had a chance to think for himself.”

Coulson blinked, his stomach growing ice cold. Where was she getting all of this from?

“Don’t you think if maybe someone else had trained Ward, he wouldn’t be like the way he is now?” Skye asked, still keeping her back to Coulson. And wasn’t that the truth? The Hand-trained Ward from the Framework still weighed heavily on her mind. “I… I think he just needs someone different to help him. Not what happened with Garrett.”

“I don’t understand where you’re coming from.”

“Garrett knew Ward for years, Coulson. Since he was a kid. Don’t you think that would do something to him?”

Now, Skye was trying to pull on what she remembered about what Ward himself had told her and Framework Ward’s story. If the Framework Ward had known Hand since he was fifteen, then the real Ward had known Garrett since the very same age. 

“That doesn’t make sense. Garrett was assigned to him after the Academy.”

“It was before then.”

“Then how did he get to him? This isn’t making any sense whatsoever, Skye.” Coulson argued, trying to figure out how Garrett would’ve gotten a hold of a young Ward.

Skye shrugged, “I don’t know. Ward said something about Juvie.”

“He… He was in Juvie? That’s not in his record.” Coulson was starting to grow sick. “I… I don’t understand any of this.”

“I don’t either, but it’s just another reason to give Ward another chance.” Skye answered, beginning her trek out of the room. She didn’t want to be there anymore. Hell, she didn’t want to be in the past anymore already. She hoped that Fitz and Mack had fixed the device.

She left Coulson in quietness to let him mull over what she had told him. Hopefully, just hopefully, he would take everything into consideration. 

But how would that change things when they got back to the present? How big of a change would this be? A part of her dreaded it, but another part told her things would be much, much better than the other version of the present. 

Skye turned a corner and found both Fitz and Mack coming towards her, “Guys!” she hissed. “Did you fix it?”

“Yep!” Fitz exclaimed. “I-It was just some loose wiring, but it should work now. Come on, before Simmons comes trying to follow m-me.”

Mack blinked and looked over to Skye, “Tremors, what did you talk to Coulson about?” he asked. “Please don’t tell me you did anything too drastic.”

Skye looked towards the side, “I just talked to him, I don’t think he’ll do anything about it anyways.” she answered. “So it’s not worth mentioning. Just fire that damn thing up and lets get the hell out of here before something can happen. Okay?”

Mack frowned, but nodded anyways, “Fine. As long as nothing happens to us when we get back.” He looked at Fitz, “Fire it up, Turbo.”

“A-Alright.”

And as Fitz activated the device, bright,white light overtook them and Skye hoped that she had changed things for the better. 

That’s all she hoped for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I kept this short bc I really didn't want to drag it out. So, the next chapter is where you see how everything changes with just giving Grant a chance. And I promise that y'all will like it. And I won't update until next week, since I'll be out of town for a few days. But I'll get another fic updated either tonight or tomorrow morning! Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	3. We're Fighting for Something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye sees what has become of the present.

(Three Years Later, The Present)

Skye stumbled forward as the bright, white subsided and everything came into focus. She shook her head to clear her mind, looking around to try and figure out just where the hell they were. Her surroundings were different and the high-tech look told her this was definitely not any SHIELD base she knew.

“Guys, where are we?”

“I… I think it’s the Triskellion.” Mack answered, beginning to turn her way. “I’ve only been there once. A year before the Uprising took it down. I….” He trailed off as he looked at Skye, his eyes widening as he took in her appearance, “Whoa.”

Skye frowned, “Whoa what?” she asked. “What’s wrong? And why’re you looking at me?”

Fitz’s mouth gaped open as he turned to look at her at well. He remained speechless, only pointing towards her stomach as an answer.

Frowning even more, Skye looked down and her knees about buckled at the sight. She started to sway on her feet as her hand went down to caress the newfound swell of her stomach. She went to open her mouth, but no words came out.

“You’re pregnant!” Fitz blurted out, covering his mouth immediately after. “How’s that possible.”

Mack narrowed his eyes and took a few steps forward towards Skye, looking around to make sure that no one could hear them, “Wait, what did you do when we were in the past?” he asked in a low whisper. “You told me it that it didn’t matter. But apparently it does now. We arrive back in,” he paused, looking at his watch. “2017 and we’re in a rebuilt Triskellion and it looks like you’re a few months pregnant. What the hell did you do?”

Skye’s mouth grew dry and she shied her gaze away from the engineer, “I didn’t think that he’d do anything.” she muttered. “It was Coulson I was asking for God’s sakes. I didn’t think that anything would come from it.”

“Huh?”

“I asked him to give Ward another chance and not send him to that jackass brother of his.” she continued, her hand resting gently against the swell of her stomach. “I don’t know how I figured it out. But I thought that we were sent back to that day in order to stop the transfer.”

Mack nodded slowly, not sure of what to say, “And you didn’t think that it would work.” He looked around again before his eyes rested on Skye’s stomach again, “But you apparently did something. The last I remember, you weren’t doing too well on the terms of relationships. I…” He trailed off as flashes of what seemed to be Skye laughing with who he guessed to be Grant with an arm around her lanced through his mind. He blinked and shook his head, “I think Coulson did _something_ in response to what you said.” he continued. “And it changed a hell of a lot, it seems.”

“I… I don’t know. I’m getting flashes of things I definitely don’t remember happening from before, but I can’t make heads or tails of them.” Skye stated, looking down at her stomach. “I don’t know what’s going on.”

“It’s possible that we’re subconsciously remembering what happened in this new timeline, even though our current selves don’t.” Fitz suggested with a shrug. “Remember, time is a thing that no one truly understands. But that could be the case. I,”

“Skye! I found you!”

Skye froze and spun around, her stomach freezing over as she saw none other than Grant Ward running towards her, a bright smile on his face. “W-Ward?!”

He stopped once he got to her and frowned, cocking his head, “Why am I suddenly back to being Ward?” he asked, inching closer towards her. “I’ve been Grant to you for three years. Did… Did I do something wrong?” There was a confused and panicked look in his eyes and Skye suddenly found herself reaching out and gently grabbing his arm.

“No! No, you haven’t done anything wrong. It’s just a busy day and I’m not feeling so well. I…”

_Crying. Yelling. Panic attacks. A breakdown._

She shook her head as what she assumed to be broken memories all flooded through, all seemingly of Grant. Reality came back into focus as she felt weight on her shoulders and she looked up to see Grant right in front of her, a worried look in his eyes.

“Skye, is there something wrong?” he asked, voice full of concern. His eyes drifted down to her stomach, “Are the babies okay? Do we need to go find Dr. Young?”

Skye swallowed, _“Babies. There’s… There’s more than one.”_ she thought. _“And by the way he’s acting, he’s… He has to be the father. What the hell did I do? What else has changed?”_

“Skye!”

She blinked again and sensed that Grant’s worry had changed; his heartrate had increased dramatically. At least that told her she still had her powers in this new timeline, but something felt different about Grant. But she couldn’t quite place her finger on it.

“I’m… I’m fine.” she breathed, trying to steady herself. “I’m just tired. I need to lay down and rest. In fact, I’ll go do that now.” She went to push past Grant, but he stopped her by gently grabbing her wrist.

“I’ll go with you. I want to make sure that you’re okay.” He looked towards Fitz and Mack, wondering why they both seemed extremely confused, before looking back to Skye, “We can help you get to back to our room.”

“No. I’m fine.” she insisted, still struggling to comprehend things. “I can do this myself.”

“Skye,” Grant let go of her wrist and crossed his arms over his broad chest. “You know that you can’t keep trying to do things on your own. You’re pregnant with our _twins_ for God’s sakes. And Inhuman twins at that. If you’re feeling bad, let me help. I just don’t want you or the kids getting hurt. Please.”

Skye took in the genuine worry in his eyes and knew that he wasn’t going to let up unless she told him that he could help. She huffed, “Fine.”

Grant smiled and immediately went to her side, his arm wrapping around her torso. Skye shivered as his hand ghosted the bottom of her shirt, his fingers making contact with her bare skin.

She looked back to Mack and Fitz, “You two go finish up what you were doing.” she said. “I’ll find you guys later when I’m rested.” That was her code for go investigate what kind of world they were in. Things were still flashing through her mind, but she couldn’t quite piece them together just yet.

“What were you guys doing?” Grant asked as he started to lead her down the long hallway. “Did you finish that coding project for Coulson earlier?”

“Yeah.” Skye answered, assuming that she did. Why did she feel so damn comfortable around him? Well, considering that she was pregnant with his children, she figured that they were together. Just how much had she changed by convincing Coulson to get Grant help?

“Good. You’ve really been on a roll lately with work.” Grant continued with a slight nod. “I know that you’re no longer in the field, but Coulson should cut you some slack. He knows that you’re almost six months pregnant. You can’t keep working like this. I know that SHIELD’s still in its first year of being a legitimate organization again, but Coulson can’t overwork someone that’s pregnant with twins.” He stopped outside what seemed to be a bedroom door and turned to look at her and Skye really got her first chance to study him.

Of course he was still impossibly built. And it didn’t help that he had chosen to wear a t-shirt that was a little too tight across his broad chest and showed off his almost-massive biceps. Skye tried not to blush as he raised an eyebrow at her.

“He’s gotta let you rest every now and then. Hasn’t he heard of the concept of maternity leave?” Grant continued, reaching out to caress the swell of Skye’s stomach. “I understand having you code or hack something every so often, but not like this. You need a break. Hell, I don’t need to be sent out in the field like I am either. I know that I’m one of SHIELD’s best Inhuman agents, but I don’t want to get hurt. I don’t want anything happening to me before I can get to be a father.” He smiled at her just as her stomach dropped and iced over.

Inhuman? Grant Ward of all people was an Inhuman too? Skye’s head started to swim again and everything got muddled up once more.

_Her father. Hydra. San Juan. The Obelisk. The crystals. Three emerging from cocoons instead of two._

That’s right… Grant had been in the temple alongside her and Raina. From what she could piece together, Grant had taken Trip’s place there and had gone through Terrigenesis as well. Then… Then that meant that Trip was still alive.

Skye swayed on her feet again as she tried to make sense of things.

“Skye, babe!” Grant exclaimed, holding her down by her shoulders. He smiled at her again once she looked towards her, “I think you’ve worked too much these past two days.” he stated. “Come on, let’s get some rest. I’ll stay with you. I could use a break anyways. I went all morning with some of the new Inhuman recruits.”

He glued himself back to her side as he punched in a code to open the door. The door swung open and he gently led her inside, shutting the door behind them. Skye looked around the medium-sized room, trying to take in its appearance. Her eyes rested on a large photo on the far wall. A group photo. And it didn’t look like it was that old.

Grant stood behind Skye, his arms around her and his hands rested on her stomach. Perhaps this was sometime around the time she found out she was pregnant. Fitz had an arm around Simmons as they stood right next to Trip. And Mack had his arms wrapped around Elena. Coulson and May stood side-by-side.

Something fluttered in Skye’s chest. They all looked so _happy._ She couldn’t remember the last time that they all had been that happy together. She had a strong feeling that changing the past really had done them good. From what she could remember and piece together, this all was way better than what they had originally gone through. Much, much better.

“Skye, sweetheart? Are you sure that you don’t need to go see Dr. Young?”

Skye blinked and looked up, seeing Grant standing in front of her once again.

She shook her head, “No, I’m fine. I just need some sleep. Everything’s fine.

I think everything’s completely fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there's the result of changing that one, specific thing in the past! You'll get some more info on the new present in the next chapter. And then there will be an epilogue. I promise it'll get Christmasy in the next chapter. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	4. I Am Still Alive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye has her first morning in the new timeline.

(The Next Morning)

Skye wasn’t sure of how and when she fell asleep, but she found herself waking up to the soft light of a morning sun filtering through the closed blinds of the room. She went to move, but found a gentle arm laid across the swell of her stomach. Looking down, she found that Grant practically had wrapped himself around her. 

A calm and soothing feeling overcame her, and she was surprised that there was no panic in her feelings. She looked down to Grant’s scarred and calloused hand,  _ “Is… Is this how it was always supposed to be?”  _ she asked herself.  _ “So if we had given him a chance from the beginning, none of that shit would’ve never even happened? Hive? AIDA? Even that twisted future? Was it always supposed to be like this? I wonder what Fitz and Mack have found. I haven’t seen them since yesterday. W-Grant was pretty adamant about having me rest.” _

A soft moan sounded beside her and Grant suddenly moved. Skye blushed as he pressed a gentle, sleepy kiss against her neck, “Good morning, sweetheart.” he mumbled. “You feeling any better?”

Skye turned herself around to look at Grant, seeing a tired smile on his face, “Yeah… Yeah, I’m fine. Must’ve just overworked myself.”

Grant grimaced and carefully ran a hand over the swell of Skye’s belly, “I’m gonna go to Coulson later and talk to him about putting you on maternity leave or something.” he stated. “It’s not good to overwork yourself. You’re already doing a hell of a lot just by carrying the twins around.”

“I’ll be fine, Grant. Trust me.”

“The last time you said that you almost fainted.” He smiled, “And that was when you found out you were pregnant. So I think that you need to take it easy.” He leaned over towards the bedside table on his side and picked up his phone, smiling again once he saw the date, “And I think we can take it pretty easy today.”

Skye frowned, “Why’s that?” she asked, sitting herself up in the bed and placing a hand over her belly. “What’s today?”

Grant turned his phone around to where she could see it, “It’s Christmas Eve, surely Coulson doesn’t have anything planned for us today. He does have a heart after all.” he answered. 

Skye blushed as she saw Grant’s wallpaper on his phone. It was a picture of the two of them, presumably a few weeks ago since Grant had a hand on her belly, that wasn’t as big as it was now. She nodded, “Oh, yeah. I’ve lost track of the days.”

“Well, you have been pretty busy after all.” Grant nodded and sat up, swinging his legs over the bed. “Get cleaned up and dressed. You conked out pretty early last night and I didn’t have the heart to wake you up just so you can take a shower.” He sighed and started to pull off his shirt, “You just looked so peaceful; didn’t want to ruin that.”

Skye averted her eyes as Grant slipped his shirt off and threw it aside, “Well, I appreciate that.” she mumbled, not really sure of what to say in this situation. She was still having a hard time with getting a handle on things at the moment. Memories, if that’s what you could call them, were still coming through bit by bit. But she could at least now put together a somewhat-complete timeline of what had happened.

First, Coulson had had the heart after all to keep Grant at the base instead of sending him to his brother. Skye had been the one to fight to get him a therapist after seeing him breakdown in a violent panic attack one day. After much deliberation, Grant had been let out of the Vault under his therapist’s orders. 

Then, Hydra had captured her for her father a couple of months later and Grant, against everyone’s wishes, had gone after her, therefore ending up in the temple with her and Raina. Grant had ended up getting highly-powerful pyrokinetic abilities, much to the team’s dislike. But the two newly-turned Inhumans had supported one another through the entire process. And Skye had even chosen Grant over her mother after the entire ordeal at Afterlife.

And, finally, from what Skye had assumed, since Hive and AIDA never happened, the two were free to form a relationship, leading to her being pregnant today. In all retrospect, even though the idea of everything being so different was strange to her, Skye truly already preferred this timeline. She just felt as though it was right. What was always supposed to be. 

As long as everyone was  _ happy _ .

“Skye? Sweetheart? You okay?”

Skye blinked and pulled herself out of her thoughts, looking up to see Grant standing in the doorway to the bathroom, a towel wrapped tightly around his waist and droplets of water shining in his thick, black hair. 

She blushed as she tried to pull her eyes away from Grant’s chiseled features. She kept forgetting just how  _ good  _ he looked. “Yeah. I’m fine.” she stated with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Still a little tired, is all.”

A frown pulled at Grant’s lips as he walked towards her, carefully pausing as she gently pulled herself out of the bed. “Are you sure that you don’t need to see Dr. Young for any reason?” he asked, helping her steady herself on her feet. “I know that we go next week for the big six month check-up, but if there’s something wrong….”

“Grant, I told you that I’m fine. I just need to take it easy today. That’s all.” Skye argued. “Let me get cleaned up.”

Grant nodded and stepped away, “Alright. Just let me know if you start feeling weird again. We can at least get Simmons up here to check you out.” he stated, turning towards the dresser to grab his clothes. “But you’re right, you do need to take it easy today. We’ll do whatever you want. Actually, I was planning on cooking up a quick breakfast. Just for the two of us. How about it?”

Skye didn’t even look back at him as she headed into the bathroom, “Sounds great.” she paused slightly. “Do… Do you think that you can get me my clothes?” she asked. “Just so I don’t have to dig for them?”

“You want sweatpants and a big t-shirt, right?” Grant called. “I know that it’s pretty cold out, but considering you’re always right up against me, a t-shirt may be your best bet. Hopefully the main common room will be free and we can just get a big blanket or something. The most we’ll probably have to worry about is Fitzsimmons coming in. Hell, at least Hunter and Morse are out of town for the holiday.”

“Yeah, just do that.” Honestly, she didn’t care at this point to whether or not Grant was digging through her clothes, considering that he had seen way more than just her underwear. Skye made quick work of taking a shower and getting out.

Once she was out, she found that Grant had already left and that he had laid her clothes out on the bed for her. She assumed that he had gone to make the breakfast that he had been talking about. She quickly put her clothes on the best she could with her pregnant belly and tied her wet hair back. Again, she didn’t care. 

She then left the room, relying solely on intuition to lead her to the kitchen. She could remember bits and pieces of where everything was at, considering that she could remember that the team had their own sector of the Triskellion all to themselves. 

Again, she wasn’t quite sure of how Coulson had managed to get the Triskellion back. All she assumed was that since they didn’t have to deal with Grant’s Hydra, Hive, or AIDA, Coulson had plenty of time to at least built the organization back up somewhat. 

“Grant?” she called as she got closer to where her subconscious could remember where the kitchen was. “Did you go in here?”

“Yeah. Sorry, didn’t know how long you were going to take and I figured that I should go ahead and get things done.”

A comforting warmth overcame Skye as she heard Grant’s voice echo out from the kitchen. She quickly slipped inside and found him standing over the stove, a pancake cooking on one of the burners. 

He placed his spatula aside and quickly went over to her, a huge smile on his face. “There you go.” he muttered, placing a lazy kiss on her cheek. “Told you that you’d feel better after a shower. I’ll finish this all up and we’ll eat. Then we’re free to do whatever you want. Even though I do want to go talk to Coulson about your possible maternity leave later on. But I might wait on that.”

“You don’t have to do that, you know.”

“Yeah, but again, I don’t want you overworking yourself. You should be focusing on resting and making sure that the kids are healthy.” He paused and shook his head, “I know that I sound a little overbearing about this, but I just want them to turn out okay, you know? I’m so worried that they’re gonna somehow be screwed-up just because I’m their father.”

Skye’s stomach fell and did a complete flip. God, she already hated hearing Grant being self-loathing. “Grant, don’t do this to yourself.” she stated softly, reaching out and placing a hand on his chest. “They’ll be perfectly okay. You’ll be fine. I’ll be fine. Just take a breath, okay?”

Grant nodded and took a sharp breath, “Yeah, yeah. You’re right. Sorry. I still wish that I didn’t get like this.” he mumbled. He gently took her hand and began to rub small circles into her palm. He brought it to his lips and kissed it, “Just need to take it one step at a time. Just think, this time next year, we’ll have two little babies to deal with. Two perfect, little babies. And it’ll be their first Christmas. And maybe we can get them a dog.”

“You mean, get  _ you  _ a dog.” Skye stated with a laugh, not sure of where it came from. 

Grant blushed and shied away, “Yeah. I still want a dog.”

Skye started to laugh, but stopped in her tracks as she noticed that the pancake that Grant had been cooking was smoking. “Grant, not to alarm you or anything, but that pancake may or may not be on fire.”

“Shit!” 

Grant spun around and quickly took the pan off of the eye, mumbling a few choice things underneath his breath. Skye tried to suppress a laugh as she could hear him mutter something about ‘being able to sense the fire’. She stood back, watching the scene as a comforting feeling overcame her. And all of this just felt right, no matter how hectic it was.

_ “Yeah… This…. This is how it was always supposed to be.  _

_ It should’ve been like this from the start.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you get some good, fluffy Skyeward goodness. Next chapter will be Skye seeing everyone else and how they changed, followed by some Christmasy stuff. So stay tuned! Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	5. What's It All For?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything seems to be great.

(Later That Day)

“So, you were able to get away from him long enough to talk to us?”

Skye frowned as she looked up, seeing Fitz and Mack both coming her way, “Yeah, believe it or not. But, I’m actually not complaining about that.” she stated, placing a gentle hand right underneath her bump. “It… It actually feels nice.”

Mack looked around, assuring that they were alone before returning his attention to the woman, “So, you think that everything’s in place here?” he asked quietly. “I mean, we couldn’t find anything that was _wrong_ with this present or anything. Hell, even me and Elena are still together here, so I can’t complain about that. But, I still don’t know if anything was messed-up by that one thing.”

“You want my honest opinion?”

Fitz raised an eyebrow, “Yeah?” he questioned with a nod of his head. “What do you think? All bias aside considering that your situation is probably the most changed here.” He gestured to her baby bump.

Skye bit her lip and shrugged, “I… I think it’s already a whole lot better than where we were, and we’ve only been here for like a day.” she answered. “I mean, everyone seems to be so much happier from what I can see and what I can remember. Hell, SHIELD’s a legitimate organization again, there’s no more running around in the shadows for us. Everything just seems to be more, well, peaceful for once.”

“So no going back and fixing anything else?” Fitz asked, holding up the time device in his hand. “Nothing at all?”

“Unless the two of you happen to be unhappy with something, but I don’t want to fix anything.” Skye answered, carefully running a hand over her bump. “I know that things are so much different than what they were, but I don’t think I’d give this up for the world. At least everyone’s happy.

There’s no more running around. Our biggest failures didn’t happen.” she continued, looking around the common room once more. She took in its sights. According to Grant, Coulson had ordered for the room to be decorated for some big team dinner tonight. That really went to show just how much things had changed.

“That one thing fixed our biggest problems and saved us a whole lot of trouble. Look where we are now.”

“Yeah, we’re in the biggest building in DC and you’re pregnant with Grant Ward’s twins.” Fitz retorted, receiving a sharp glare from Mack’s end. “We’re definitely far from where we were.”

Skye shot an icy stare at him, “I’m not joking, Fitz. It really fixed things.” she stated. “I didn’t think anything would come from it, considering that Coulson hated Grant’s guts. Guess the Director has a heart in him after all.”

“Well, I did see him in a Santa hat on the way here, so that’s definitely something.” Mack said with a frown. “Didn’t think that he was the festive type.”

Skye shrugged, “He would’ve probably done that before the whole Uprising thing. But then he grew cold and disconnected. Hell, sounds like me begging him to give Grant another chance ended up saving him as well.”

“Funny how things work out.”

“Yeah, I,”

“Skye! Wait!”

Skye clamped her mouth shut and spun to see Grant jogging his way towards her. An unconscious smile pulled at her lips as he got closer, trying to ignore the fact that Fitz had mumbled something about Grant being ‘too clingy’.

“Where were you?” she asked, tilting her head at him as he stopped right in front of her. “Not like you to disappear like that.”

He smiled again, “I was talking to Coulson.” he answered, slipping into place right next to her and gently wrapping an arm around her torso. “And don’t worry, I’m not in trouble or anything. Well, he did forbid me from getting close to the Christmas tree. But can’t help that _someone_ happened to scare me last year.” He shot a glare at Fitz, causing the engineer to yelp. “But that’s not the point.”

Skye raised an eyebrow, “Then what’s the point you’re getting at?” she questioned. “Get to the point.”

“It’s about getting you a break. At least until the twins are here.” He smiled again, “And he seemed to be pretty in line with it.”

“He did?”

“Yeah. Well, he said that he couldn’t put you on leave until the New Year, but that’s still something. That’ll give you like two or three months of a break.” Grant explained. “But that’s great considering how much you’ve been working lately.”

Skye blushed at Grant’s thoughtfulness, “Wow.” she breathed. “Thanks.” It was clear as day that he would give the world for her, but she still had a hard time processing and getting a handle on it. “What did you have to do?”

“Oh, uh, nothing really.” He scratched at the back of his head, “Coulson was pretty understanding about it. I mean, he’s kind of upset that you’ll be on the backburner for a good while, but he was still understanding. I think he’s the only person that’s more excited for the twins than we are.” He smiled and shook his head, “Honestly, I’m kind of afraid for this time next year. There’s no telling to what he’ll buy them for Christmas.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Grant smiled again and turned to face Mack and Fitz, the two engineers truly unsure of what to say to the specialist, “You two gonna be at the dinner tonight?” he asked. “Coulson was pretty amped up about it.”

“Yeah, I guess. Elena was saying something about it earlier. Guess there’s no way around it, right?” Mack questioned, trying his best to laugh. The fact that Grant was standing in front of him like this was still weird, considering everything he had heard about the other timeline’s version of him. “It’s just us, right?”

“Yeah. We’re only missing Hunter and Morse, and that’s because they happened to take a vacation.” Grant answered. “Their loss.”

Skye raised an eyebrow, “I thought that Hunter got on your nerves.” she commented, letting him draw her closer to his side. She still didn’t understand to how she knew little things like that and she figured that she probably would never get to that point.

“Shouldn’t you be glad that he’s gone?”

“Touché.” Grant grumbled, shying his gaze away from everyone for a few seconds. “It’s sure a lot less noisy here without him.”

“Figures.”

Grant laughed and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, “Come on, you all know it, too.” he stated. “Hunter’s a nice guy and all, he just can really be a jackass sometimes.”

“Don’t let him hear you say that. He’ll sic Bobbi on you.” Mack muttered. He looked around the room again, looking for something to move the conversation on, “By the way, when’s dinner?”

Grant shrugged, “Hell if I know. I think Coulson said he’d let us know when it’s ready. I don’t even know to who’s cooking. All I know is that he’s extremely excited about it. So don’t be surprised if he happens to show up dressed as Santa.”

“Oh joy.” Skye mumbled, burying herself into Grant’s warm side. Honestly, this is where she felt the happiest. “Remind me to take a photo. Oh, and why can’t you dress up as Santa instead?”

Grant grimaced, “Hell no.” he stated coldly. “That’s the one thing I’ll never do. No matter how much you beg or bribe me. I won’t do it.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’ll somehow end up as blackmail material. And it’s also degrading. And,” He paused, “No one’s ever heard of a fit Santa. I’m too muscular.”

“Well, we’ll start a new trend or something.” Skye almost laughed. “Sexy Santa.” She didn’t care that she had said that. Honestly, it was the truth.

“Get a room.” Fitz stated with a cough, averting his eyes before _anything_ could happen. “That’s something that my young eyes do not want to see.”

Skye tried her best to suppress a laugh as Grant practically guffawed at Fitz’s statement. A smile grew on her face as Grant and the young engineer started to bicker like an old couple. That was what told her that the two were best friends here. And she was glad for that. Everything was just so much better now.

Her heart swelled with hope for the future as she continued to watch the two men bicker.

_“Yeah. I think everything’s going to be good._

_This is how it was always supposed to be.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so it's not quite what I wanted, but it's the best that I could do. But I hope that y'all still like it! I think the next chatper will be the last/epilogue. So stay tuned for that. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	6. Waiting for a Blind Ascent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A year later.

(A Year Later)

“Skye, sweetheart, you probably need to wake up. The twins are getting real fussy. Especially Adian.”

Skye groaned and peeled her eyes open, seeing Grant towering over her beside the bed. He held both of the twins tightly in his arms, both of which were real squirmy. A small smile pulled at her lips and she sat herself up, reaching towards them.

“Here, hand me Adian. He’s probably hungry.” she stated, taking the baby boy from her husband. “What time is it? Did you feed them yet?”

Grant shook his head, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to her and holding their daughter close to his chest, “No. I just finished working out and got the puppy walked and fed. They just woke up.” he answered. “It’s still early, but I figured that it was best that I go ahead and get them up. You know, considering that it is Christmas after all.”

Skye blinked, cradling the nine-month-old in her arms, “Oh, yeah. Forgot.”

“How’d you forget?” Grant laughed, cocking his head. “We spent the past two days wrapping the twin’s gifts.” He stood to his feet, “Or did you just sleep really hard again?”

“Let’s go with that.”

Skye sighed and slid out of bed, holding Adian close to her chest as she followed Grant and Ava out of the room. They headed into the kitchen, where of which they placed the kids into their high chairs.

“You want pancakes?” Grant asked, heading towards the cabinets. He paused and smiled as a sharp bark sounded and he turned to see a small, black blur fly into the room. “Hey there, Max. I wasn’t gone long.” he cooed, bending down to pet the German shepherd puppy behind the ear. “I just got your mama up.”

“I’m not his mama, Grant. I didn’t spend nine hours in labor with him.”

Grant scowled and picked the puppy up, “Well, he’s my son. That’s what I’m calling him.” he stated firmly. “He’s the twin’s puppy brother.”

Skye rolled her eyes as she placed two jars of baby food down on the table, “I’m going to regret giving that dog to you as a Christmas present, aren’t I?” she asked, opening the jars and turning to the two babies. “Two human babies and a dog baby. I didn’t think this through.”

“You’re gonna love it.” Grant gently placed the puppy down and turned back to the cabinets as Skye started to feed the twins. “How many pancakes?” he asked, moving the subject on.

“One. Not that hungry.”

Grant shrugged and got started on cooking. Skye managed to get the twins fed and cleaned up just before it was time for her and Grant to eat. They made quick work of eating their breakfast before taking the twins, and Max, into their living room and sitting at the base of their Christmas tree.

“Adian, can you say ‘tree’?” Grant asked, placing the young boy in his lap and pointing in front of him.

“Tee!” Adian squealed, showing his four-tooth smile. “Tee!”

Grant smiled and looked towards his daughter in Skye’s lap, “Ava, can you say ‘tree’?”

“Dada!”

“She’s not quite there yet, Grant. And Adian’s barely ahead of her.” Skye stated, running her fingers through Ava’s soft, silky curls. “They’re barely a year old yet.” She saw Grant’s disappointment, “Just keep working with them. I saw something that said if you keep getting them to say random things, they’ll learn fast. Just keep trying.”

“Oh, well.” Grant breathed, sitting Adian at his feet and reaching for a present labeled with Adian’s name. He handed it to the little boy and the baby tried his best to hold it, “Adian, can you open it?” he asked, making a tearing motion with his hands.

Adian started to rip at the paper, clearly interested in the shiny material. Skye got Ava to do the same thing and there were soon large shreds of paper on the hardwood floor. Max soon joined in, gnawing on scraps of paper instead of the toys that Grant oh so carefully picked out for him the day before.

Skye smiled at the sight of her two kids squealing in laughter as they played with the colorful paper. Never would she have thought that changing that one, little thing in the past would lead to something this amazing. And truly, she didn’t think that convincing Coulson to help Grant would actually work. But here she was four years later, newly married to Grant and with two amazing babies. She was so glad that she hadn’t ended up regretting her choice. And she just knew that this was the way it was always meant to be.

“Adian! Don’t pull on the puppy’s tail like that!”

Grant’s shout pulled Skye out of her thoughts and she looked to see Grant holding Max in his lap, handing Adian one of his new toys to play with instead of the dog’s tail. She smiled and shook her head, reaching for the box that Ava was impatiently beating on with her chubby, little hand.

“You want what’s inside?” she asked, getting a babble in response. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Skye opened the box and pulled out a small, stuffed dog. She handed it to Ava, who of which squealed in delight.

“I told you she would like it.”

Skye looked over to see a smirk on Grant’s face, “Grant, they’re both like you when it comes to dogs.” she stated. “And you know that we got one for Adian too, right? He just hasn’t gotten to it yet because he’s more interested in the paper than he is anything else.”

“We’ll get to it eventually.” Grant said in return, helping Adian open another gift. “And when’s the others supposed to be here?” he asked. “I need to know so I can go ahead and get the kitchen and dining room set up. And the food we’re supposed to cook. At least we told the others to bring stuff.”

“Around two.”

“Two? That’s a little early, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but you know that they’ll end up staying for a while and I don’t want it to be all night. Especially since the twins are here this Christmas. And I know that since Elena’s pregnant, she won’t want to stay all night either.” Skye explained, pulling the toy’s ear from Ava’s mouth. “Best to go ahead and get it over with. Especially since Coulson’s probably going to bombard the babies with gifts. And they don’t know about Max yet since we’ve been home for the past week.”

Grant huffed and looked away, “Guess I’ll get things started once these two are done.” he answered. “And I get all of this mess cleaned up. They’ll be conked out in about an hour anyways. That gives us time to get cleaned up ourselves and get some food started. Maybe I should’ve made some stuff last night.”

“But you were too busy with the puppy and I was getting the twins ready for bed.”

He shrugged, “Oh well, it’s not like we’re cooking much anyways. I can make things go faster.”

“Grant, if I see you trying to cook the turkey with your bare hands again, I’ll throw it in the trash.” Skye warned him, knowing what direction he was taking. “You almost scorched the Thanksgiving turkey and Fitz kept talking about the hand-shaped scorch marks on it. He’ll probably bring it back up later today.”

“My flames are better than that contraption of a turkey fryer!” Grant protested, watching Adian play with a new truck. “And it still tasted okay.”

“It’s unsanitary. I don’t know where your flames come from.”

Grant rolled his eyes, “Whatever. Guess I’ll do it the old-fashioned way.” he muttered. “Kind of ironic that I have to use a turkey fryer.”

“Grant, please.” Skye shook her head and scooped Ava up, placing the little girl in her lap. “Let it go.”

“The fryer will just be slower.” Grant mumbled, reaching for a present and handing it to Skye. “This is yours.”

“It’s not about speed. It’s about safety and not ruining the turkey. Or having the neighbors see you with flames billowing from your hands. Again.” She smiled at him and started to open the present. “I don’t want have to explain things again.”

Grant shrugged, “Well, they shouldn’t be looking into our backyard. There’s a fence for a reason.”

“You know very well that Lisa next door looks over the fence because you always somehow end up shirtless when you’re working out there.” Skye shot back. “More probably look as well.”

He blushed and shook his head, “Just… Just open the present.” he muttered, looking at Adian instead of her.

Skye almost snorted and finished opening the present. A wide smile appeared on her face as she pulled the object out of the box. “Grant, you… You got it printed.” She smiled at the picture frame in her hands, looking at the picture that it contained. It was their wedding photo. Since they had gotten married last month, they had never gotten around to getting a print made of it. The photo showed Grant in a black tux, Ava in his arms while Skye held Adian, the little boy pulling at her white dress.

“I love it.”

“I knew you would.” Grant said, smiling back. “But that’s probably one of the smaller gifts.”

“Grant, you know I said no big gifts. We were supposed to focus on the kids this year!”

Grant shrugged, “You know that I go overboard with you.”

Skye just shook her head, watching as Grant turned his attention back to Adian for a bit. She still had a hard time believing that this was who he really was, not the madman from the other timeline. It really went to show that all he needed was love and support, even if he still wasn’t the strongest mentally these days. But she was still glad of what came from her one choice to change the past.

And at this point, her memories of the other timeline were foggy. She could remember the big events, but some of the smaller things weren’t so clear or were just gone. But she figured that her memory didn’t matter as long as this present stayed the way it was.

_“I know I always say this, but it’s still true._

_This was always meant to be.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to post this the other day, but I got sidelined with playing Breath of the Wild a little too much. But here's the now-belated Christmas/epilogue chapter! I hoped that you enjoyed this little fic! Keep the comments and kudos coming!

**Author's Note:**

> I promise that this will be a short one! Find me on Tumblr @gears-of-ward!


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